Combination article of furniture



Dec. 11, 1934. A. CESLOWITZ 1,984,207

COMBINATION ARTICLE OF FURNITURE Filed June 30, 1934 INVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented Dec. 11, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 8 Claims.

This invention relates to combination articles of furniture which, while having the outer shape of a chair or similar articles of furniture, are formed in two sections, a lower, base section and an upper, sliding'se'ction which when moved from its normal position discloses various storage compartments within the interior of the structure. The invention finds its most useful embodiment in the form of a large armchair and is so illustrated herein, but obviously might be worked into the shape of other seat-forming articles of furniture.

The best form of apparatus at present known to me embodying my invention is illustrated in the accompanying sheet of drawings in which- Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a chair to which the invention has been applied, parts being broken away;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the base member of the chair, the seat portion having been removed.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail section on line 3--3 of Fig. 1 showing one form of latch construction for holding the parts together.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail section on line 4-4 of Fig. 2 showing the anti-friction rollers between the two chair sections, together with associated parts, and

Fig. 5 is a detail cross-section on line 5-5 of Fig. 1 showing in part the construction of the back of the chair.

Throughout the drawing like reference characters indicate like parts. 1 indicates generally the base section of the chair which may be supported from the floor by legs 23, 23, while 2 indicates generally the upper movable section carrying the upholstery which may consist of aback cushion 3 and a seat cushion 4 of the usual type. 5, 5 indicate the usual arms carried by the upper section 2 so that when the parts are assembled in normal position as shown in Fig. 1, the article has all the appearance and useful qualities of a large armchair.

The lower section 1, shown in Fig. 2, has in its bottom several horizontally extending wardrobe compartments '7, 7 in which clothing can be laid as in a trunk, .said compartments being separated by a vertical partition 8 and ventilated by reticulated panels 9 in the bottom wall. In these may also be placed one or more removable trays, one of which is indicated at 27. Similarly, the vertical portion 6 of the base section 1 has a large compartment 13 ventilated by another reticulated panel 9 and in this suits or dresses may be suspended as in a closet by coat-hangers engaging a horizontal bar 22. Various other smaller compartments may be provided in this back section 6 to serve the purposes of small drawers in a chiilonier as indicated at 14, 14. Preferably the upwardly extending portion of sliding member 2, and the cooperating section 6 of the base section are provided with interengaging strips forming a dust-proof. joint as shown at 26 in Fig. 5.

Horizontally extending slots 10, 10 are cut in the side walls of the horizontal portion of the base member 1, in which are located compression springs '12, 12, each spring being confined between a lug 11 carried by the upper sliding section of the chair (as best shown in Fig. 1) and the rear end of the slot. Each spring may be coiled around a rod guide 19 which passes through a perforation in the lug 11 as well shown in Fig. 4. Normally slots 10, 10 are covered and concealed by panel strips 18, one of these being shown partly broken away in Figs. 1 and 2.

Additional details forming no essential part of my basic invention are indicated in Fig. 1 where 24, 24 are ornamental, horizontally swinging members pivoted to the arms and having recesses 25, 25 which may serve as ashtrays to be swung out in front of the chair occupant as indicated in dot and dash lines in Fig. l.

15 indicates any convenient form of spring latch mounted on the base member in any convenient position and so disposed as to engage the complementary latch member 20 fast on the movable chair section 2 as best shown in Fig. 3. Preferably the movable latch member is carried by a rod which extends up through the top wall of the back 6 of the chair and terminates in a button 21 by which it may be conveniently operated.

While any anti-friction bearings for movable section 2 on base section 1 may be employed I prefer to provide a series of little wheels 16, 16 journaled in the upper section and running in the track 17 set in the lower section. Details of this construction are shown in Fig. 4.

The mode of operation of the invention will be readily understood from the foregoing description. When the parts are in the position shown in Fig. 1 a highly ornamental article of furniture in the shape of a. comfortable armchair is presented. The hollow interior of this chair may,

however, carry a whole trunkful or more of articles of wearing apparel or anything else that the chair owner may wish to stow away out of sight. When access is to be had to these storage compartments the knob 21 is pressed down and the upper section 2, unless otherwise restrained, then slides forward into the position shown in broken lines in Fig. 1, thereby affording free access to the compartments in the back 6 and to compartments '7 through the rear, exposed half portions thereof. Whenever the user has finished placing articles in the compartments or removing them therefrom he merely gives the upper section 2 a shove backward, whereupon the latch 15 engages the catch 20 and the parts are held in the position shown in Fig. 1 ready for the use of its seating facilities as an armchair. When the lugs 11, ll strike the forward ends of slots 10, 10, (or any other convenient stop member) the outward movement of the movable section 2 is checked.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. A combination article of furniture adapted to serve as a wardrobe and other purposes comprising, in combination, a base member adapted to be supported on a floor and provided with a storage compartment opening upward, and a seat member having a sliding connection to the top of the forward portion of said base member and large enough to cover said storage compartment when slid over it; said base member having an upwardly extending back portion which is hollowed out to form a wardrobe closet, while said seat member also has an upwardly extending rear portion adapted to form a chair back after it has been slid into position to close such wardrobe closet whereby, when the seat member is in position to be sat upon it will close and conceal both said storage compartments, but may he slid away from such normal position to afford access thereto.

2. An apparatus such as defined in claim 1 combined with yielding means normally tending to slide said seat member into position to open said compartments and manually operable mechanism for releasably holding it in position to close them.

3. A combination article of furniture adapted to serve as a wardrobe and other purposes comprising, in combination, a base member adapted to be supported on a floor and provided with a storage compartment opening upwardly, and a seat member having a sliding connection to the top of said base member and large enough to cover said storage compartment when slid over, said base member having an upwardly extending back portion which is hollowed out to form a wardrobe closet, while said seat member also has an upwardly extending rear portion adapted to form a chair back after it has been slid into position to close such wardrobe closet, said back portions of said two members being provided with cooperating, latching elements for releasably holding their upwardly extending portions in contact.

4. A combination article of furniture adapted to serve as a wardrobe and other purposes comprising, in combination, a base member adapted to be supported on a floor and provided with a storage compartment opening upwardly, and a seat member having a sliding connection to the top of said base member and large enough to cover said storage compartment when slid over, said base member having an upwardly extending back portion which is hollowed out to form a wardrobe closet, while said seat member also has an upwardly extending rear portion adapted to form a chair back after it has been slid into position to close such wardrobe closet, said back portions of said two members being provided with cooperating, latching elements for releasably holding their upwardly extending portions in contact, and spring means tending to slide the back members apart when said latching elements are disengaged one from the other.

5. An apparatus such as defined in claim 1 in which said storage compartment is provided with ventilating openings in its lower portion.

6. An apparatus such as defined in claim 1 in which the upwardly extending portions of said members are provided at their meeting edges with interengaging strip portions forming a dustproof joint when in contact one with another.

7. A combined armchair, clothes chest, wardrobe and closet, consisting of a base section having a horizontlly extending hollow portion provided with supporting legs and open at the top, and also having a nearly vertical rear portion hol low and open at the front. an upper section carrying vertically supported back cushions and adapted to slide on the horizontal portion of the base section so as to move its back cushion to ward or from the said nearly vertical portion of the base member to form a closure with respect to said nearly vertical rear portion, spring means normally tending to separate said sections, and a manually operable latch normally holding them in contact so as to cover all hollow spaces in chair bottom and back.

8. An apparatus such as defined in claim 1 combined with stop means for checking the relative sliding movement between said members before they become entirely separated.

ABRAHAM CESLGWITZ. 

